QB Tom Brady's Patriots blew out the Colts 59-24 in their last meeting during the 2012 regular season. / David Butler II, USA TODAY Sports

by Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports

by Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Chris Jones carefully pondered the question Thursday as he glanced around a near-empty New England Patriots locker room, perhaps in search of clues from the nameplates adorning the stalls.

A rookie defensive tackle from Bowling Green, Jones is a new kid in town. He didn't want to miss anyone.

So, Chris, how many current Patriots players have won Super Bowl rings? (The die-hards who brave the cold to fill up Gillette Stadium know this off the top of their heads.)

Well, actually, Vince Wilfork has a ring, too. But he's on injured reserve, leaving Brady as the only Patriots player who will open the playoffs on Saturday night who has been there and done that.

Shoot, there will be more Colts in the house (Adam Vinatieri, Deion Branch) with rings won as Patriots than Patriots.

That's worth nothing about now as New England gears up for another run while the championship window keeps tightening for Brady. It has been nearly nine years since he and coach Bill Belichick led the franchise to its last title.

Not even grizzled veteran guard Logan Mankins has a ring. He arrived as a first-round pick in 2005, months after that last Super Bowl triumph.

"It's not an easy thing to do," Mankins told USA TODAY Sports. "The longer you're in this game, the more you realize how hard it is to just get to the Super Bowl, let alone win one."

They've come close. Mankins was an anchor for the 2007 team that produced a perfect regular season record but fell short against squirming Eli Manning and the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII.

Since then, New England is just 3-4 in the postseason, including another defeat courtesy of Manning's Giants in Super Bowl XLVI. And in three of the past four playoffs, the Patriots have been eliminated on their home field.

Times have changed. So have the names. That's the NFL challenge. It's to Belichick's credit that he's won 11 of the past 13 AFC East titles while constantly shuffling the cast around Brady.

No matter what happens from here, Belichick has done one of his best coaching jobs, given all the injuries. There's no Rob Gronkowski or starting right tackle Sebastian Vollmer on offense. Just this week, starting linebacker Brandon Spikes joined Wilfork, Jerod Mayo and Tommy Kelly as a defensive playmaker on IR. Can you even name four guys left on the defense?

Back in the day, it was Bruschi. McGinest. Vrabel. Law. And so on.

"Those were big-time guys," rookie linebacker Jamie Collins told USA TODAY Sports. "You've heard about them. We just have to work our way up to be like those guys, up on their level."

No doubt, it's time for this generation of Patriots to make a name for themselves - especially while they still have Brady.

"That's why I'm excited about this tournament," defensive end Chandler Jones told USA TODAY Sports. "To make a run would be great for this team."

He gets it. He realizes that this team can't live off the achievements of previous teams. But some customs have been passed along. In his second season, Jones has been immersed in The Patriot Way - in short, the no-nonsense pursuit of excellence.

That's why he insists that he's not looking past Saturday night and the one-game-at-a-time mission.

"I'm just trying to keep my job," Jones, a No.1 pick in 2012, said with such Belichickian modesty.

In one sense, the current Patriots (12-4) have indeed begun to establish their own identity. They are resilient. Six of their victories came by three points or less. They play to the finish line.

Yet by the same token, they have lived awfully close to the edge. Comeback jobs against the Broncos, Saints, Bills and Browns were this close to being losses.

That should concern the die-hard fans with the upstart Indianapolis Colts coming next. The Colts - who have defeated the 49ers, Broncos, Seahawks and overcame a 28-point deficit to the Chiefs in the wild-card round - are resilient in their own right.

And these Colts are built differently than the Colts that used to come here to get kicked out of the playoffs.

Sure, the Patriots hung 55 on the Steelers earlier this season (and 59 on the Colts last year), and when you have Brady - even amid one of the worst statistical seasons of his career - you always have a chance.

But the depleted defense is ranked 26th. New England was perfect at home, but just 4-4 on the road. The Patriots have been chasing consistency. Or inconsistency. They seem game enough, toughened by adversity.

Yet they also look so vulnerable.

Never mind the tradition, the rings and the banners that define the Patriots brand.

"Each team is different each year," safety Devin McCourty told USA TODAY Sports, sounding like Belichick.

Alluding to Brady and Wilfork, McCourty added: "We've got two guys with a lot of experience and knowledge, and then we have a lot of other guys that don't know any better. That's not always a bad thing. You've got a bunch of young, hungry guys that are doing what they always dreamed of doing."

Less certain, though, is whether these Patriots can really get it done.